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If you look at the liturgies of traditional life cycle rituals – brit milah, wedding, funeral – they’re remarkable for how little they speak to, or about, the actual person(s) involved. Many of the baby-naming ceremonies created over the past few decades have tried to remedy this, involving multiple blessings for the newborn girl. It struck me, though, that the lack of reference to the “lead character” in the classic ceremonies might actually be the point.

Think of how a b’rakhah works. When a Christian says Grace, it’s something like, “Bless this food to our use,” or “For what we are to receive make us truly grateful.” The prayer points to what’s about to be eaten: this food; these gifts. But a traditional b’rakhah is almost blind to the food on the table “Blessed are You…Who brings bread from the earth” – even though without the bread, this statement would be considered a blessing in vain. So: A Jewish blessing takes a phenomenon and, rather than talking about it directly, uses it as an opportunity to talk about the sacred. We may eat the food, but what we see is an example of God’s eternal bread-giving nature.

So, too, with the life-cycle rituals. Think of a wedding. When we look at the chuppah, the blessings invite us to see both a reminder of Eden and a trace of the redemption-to-come. A funeral invokes the idea of God’s ineffably just providence, and recasts our grief as part of a response to the cosmic rupture symbolized by the Destruction of the Temple. And in a Brit Milah the circumcision of this particular baby is a reminder of God’s initial covenant with Abraham (“The blessed Holy One said to Abraham our father, ‘Walk before Me and be perfect”), the Exodus (“I passed over you and saw you weltering in your blood, and said, ‘In your blood may you live'” – understood by the midrash to refer to the bloods of both the first Passover offering and circumcision, and, in its invocation of Elijah, the redemption yet to be.

What I wanted was a baby-naming ceremony that did similar work; that is, that recasts the naming as a microcosm of events in sacred history. And in fact naming in Torah has both covenantal and redemptive significance. The reference to the “garments of triumph” and “robe of victory” in the Isaiah passage naturally suggested wrapping the child in a tallit as a transitional event that might otherwise be lacking.

“As for me, here, my covenant is with you, so that you will become the father of a throng of nations. No longer shall your name be called Avram, rather shall your name be Avraham, for I will make you Av hamon goyyim/Father of a Throng of nations! I will cause you to bear fruit exceedingly, I will make nations of you, yes, icings will go out from you! I establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you, into their generations as a covenant for the ages, to be God to you and to your seed after you.”[1]Genesis 17:4-7.

…God said to Avraham: As for Sarai your wife – you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sara/Princess is her name! I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her, I will bless her so that she becomes nations, kings of peoples shall come from her!”[2]Genesis 17:15-16.

“I greatly rejoice in YHVH, my whole being exults in my elo’ah. For He has clothed me with garments of triumph, wrapped me in a robe of victory, like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, like a bride bedecked with her finery. For as the earth brings forth her growth and a garden makes the seed shoot up, so my Master YHVH will make victory and renown shoot up in the presence of all the nations.”[3]Isaiah 61:10-11

“For the sake of Tsiyon I will not be silent, for the sake of Yerushalayim I will not be still, till her victory emerge resplendent and her triumph like a flaming torch. Nations shall see your victory, and every king your majesty.”[4]Isaiah 62:1-2 part

“You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of YHVH, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God. Nevermore shall you be called Azuvah/Forsaken, nor shall you be called Shemamah/Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah/I delight in her, and your land Beulah/Espoused. For YHVH takes delight in you, and your land shall be espoused. As a youth espouses a maiden, your sons shall espouse you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your elo’ah rejoice over you.”[6]Isaiah 62:3-5

May YHVH (Adonai) bless you and guard over you
May YHVH (Adonai) show favor to you and be gracious to you
May YHVH (Adonai) be delighted with you and give you peace.[9]Cf. Numbers 6:24-26.

אָמֵן!

All:Amen!

Ceremony created by Joshua Gutoff who adds, “I put this together in 1989 or early 1990 in Leominster, MA.” I have added Hebrew verses and citations opposite Rabbi Dr. Gutoff’s English. I have Hebraized divine names in Dr. Gutoff’s translation (for example, replacing YHVH for “the Lord”). Some Hebrew remains unvocalized. (Please contribute vocalization in the comments.) –Aharon Varady

Rabbi Josh Gutoff, Ed.D., is the Assistant Professor of Jewish Education at Gratz College in Philadelphia. Following his ordination and his five years as a pulpit rabbi, Dr. Gutoff was the executive director of Hillel at the University of Minnesota, a Jewish chaplain and philosophy instructor at C.W. Post College, the rabbinic educator at the Solomon Schechter High School of New York and a lead instructor for the 92nd Street Y’s Derekh Torah program for adults exploring Judaism. He is also the author of a number of widely read articles on Jewish thought. Professor Gutoff holds a B.A. in literature from Yale College and an M.A. from The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he also received his rabbinic ordination.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established."–Psalms 90:17

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